Douglas's figure is that of an unbeatable being, one that would be grateful not to have been brought forth at all. The way he vouches for it is expressive of his extraordinary m...

Douglas's figure is that of an unbeatable being, one that would be grateful not to have been brought forth at all. The way he vouches for it is expressive of his extraordinary meekness and tenderness of spirit. His artistry, finely drawn as it was at this stage, was to the fore as to turn the picture surface into the fictional ground or recess which his vexed figure might stay into and haunt. Douglas is able to achieve in his late works in figure turns decidedly picturesque. It turns out in the end to be amazingly constant, only a great deal more pictorial than at the beginning when he thought he was no more than seeded and conceived to be